Pick13:How did they think this would be remotely legal in the US? Microsoft came up with the "moon points" system to get around US betting laws.

I can provide an example. Think of King - the company that made Candy Crush Saga. Their main website, king.com, is the home of the original Candy Crush game. It also hosts a hundred or so other Flash games of various types; puzzle games, matching games, strategy games.

Their site lets you add real money to an account to pay for a VIP membership. Once done, you can participate in tournaments that have an entry fee. Every player that participates competes via their own identical copy of the game field (if you're playing Candy Crush, you get the same starting board/drop pattern everyone else does). The top-ranking scorers in the tournament win real money back as part of their prize package.

This is effectively real-money gambling on Flash games, but it's wrapped in such a way that it probably classifies out as "games of skill" (the same classification poker players love to push for). King.com does a /lot/ of business this way, though it garners less attention than the in-game transactions of something like Candy Crush Saga due to the fascination people have with the large (Facebook) player-base of that title.

I'm not sure why Zyngaisn'tpushing in this direction. I thought ripping off other people's business models was kinda their thing.

Wingchild:Their site lets you add real money to an account to pay for a VIP membership. Once done, you can participate in tournaments that have an entry fee. Every player that participates competes via their own identical copy of the game field (if you're playing Candy Crush, you get the same starting board/drop pattern everyone else does). The top-ranking scorers in the tournament win real money back as part of their prize package.

OK, my first question here was "WTF is Candy Crush"? After googling and finding the original (apparently) flash game, I see the answer is "The exact same farking matching game I've seen in a hundred different places since at least the mid 90's". I guess there's some kind of 'public domain' clause working here that keeps them from getting sued to farkery.

Bung_Howdy:and why in Jebus' name does FARK have these hideous banners?

I know it's cliche, but Adblock, dude. Seriously. It's farking magical. Do it for the dramatically improved page load times if nothing else. And you're TF so it's not like you're not already supporting the site.

dookdookdook:Wingchild: Their site lets you add real money to an account to pay for a VIP membership. Once done, you can participate in tournaments that have an entry fee. Every player that participates competes via their own identical copy of the game field (if you're playing Candy Crush, you get the same starting board/drop pattern everyone else does). The top-ranking scorers in the tournament win real money back as part of their prize package.

OK, my first question here was "WTF is Candy Crush"? After googling and finding the original (apparently) flash game, I see the answer is "The exact same farking matching game I've seen in a hundred different places since at least the mid 90's". I guess there's some kind of 'public domain' clause working here that keeps them from getting sued to farkery.

From what I've read, Candy Crush is a juxtaposition of Bejeweled and Tetris. It's very addictive. You can play the game to the point where you lose. Then, much like old-school coin-op games, you need to buy another life. You purchase tokens you can redeem to keep playing. If you don't, you're locked out of the game for 20 minutes and have to start over from scratch. It's brilliant.

foo monkey:You purchase tokens you can redeem to keep playing. If you don't, you're locked out of the game for 20 minutes and have to start over from scratch. It's brilliant.

The only 'brilliant' thing about it is the psychopath who figured out how to make a million dollars a day with nothing but a 4MB flash game and a crack dealer's guilt-free willingness to exploit other people's faulty brain chemistry for cash.

dookdookdook:Wingchild: Their site lets you add real money to an account to pay for a VIP membership. Once done, you can participate in tournaments that have an entry fee. Every player that participates competes via their own identical copy of the game field (if you're playing Candy Crush, you get the same starting board/drop pattern everyone else does). The top-ranking scorers in the tournament win real money back as part of their prize package.

OK, my first question here was "WTF is Candy Crush"? After googling and finding the original (apparently) flash game, I see the answer is "The exact same farking matching game I've seen in a hundred different places since at least the mid 90's". I guess there's some kind of 'public domain' clause working here that keeps them from getting sued to farkery.

your exposure to human beings and television must be amazingly limited.